Seemingly out of nowhere, Rick Fox's team Echo Fox now has arguably the most dominant fighting game roster out of any other esports organization.
Yahoo Esports reports that Echo Fox has just signed Street Fighter V players Justin "JWong" Wong, Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi, Yusuke "Momochi" Momochi and Yuko "ChocoBlanka" Momochi.
Not only that, Echo Fox has also brought on Mortal Kombat X pros Dominique "SonicFox" McLean and Brad "Scar" Vaughn along with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player Leonardo "MKLeo" Lopez Perez. Managing this mega roster will be former Evil Geniuses Fighting Game Manager Antonio Javier.
Echo Fox also resigned Super Smash Bros. Melee/Wii U player Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman and Street Fighter V pro Julio Fuentes.
"From day one, our goal has always been to build the premier esports organization in the world, setting the new standard for professionalism, team achievement and player development and wellness. Today's announcement demonstrates our willingness to think big, think global and execute a strategic battle plan," said Rick Fox, founder of Echo Fox, to Yahoo Esports.
JWong, Tokido, and Momochi have all had stellar 2016s. JWong took first at seven Capcom Pro Tour events last year, Tokido took first at two, including the Southeast Asia Major (SEAM), and Momochi took first at StunFest. Momochi's wife, ChocoBlanka, wasn't very active in 2016, but the couple did open Shinobism, a Street Fighter training academy in Japan.
SonicFox also had a strong 2016, taking the gold at Evolution 2016, along with three other tournaments. Scar, formerly of Panda Global, did well in 2016, placing third at Evolution, and first at Texas Showdown.
MKLeo is the youngest addition to Echo Fox. At only 15 years old, he's already cemented himself as the best Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player in Mexico. He took first at a slew of locals and regionals, and took the gold at majors and semi-majors like Canada Cup and 2GGT: ZeRo Saga.
Manager Javier left Evil Geniuses in 2015 to work with Twitch's Community Development team, but has yearned to come back to the fighting game community (FGC).
"[I've] said [before] that if I was ever given an opportunity to manage players in the FGC again, but still be able to provide for my family, I would do it in a heartbeat," said Javier to ESPN via Skype.
Earlier this month, Evil Geniuses announced that it was releasing JWong, Momochi, and ChocoBlanka. Considering Javier managed these specific players in the past and has plenty of experience in the FGC, his move to Echo Fox makes sense.
Javier has known Tokido and Fuentes for several years at this point as well, but the rest of the roster is new to him. "I'd like to think that I have the tools to bring out the best in a player, so anything any of the players want to achieve, I'm there for," said Javier.
Since joining Echo Fox in May 2016 and April 2016, respectively, both Mew2King and Fuentes have upped their consistency. Now that the two have seven new FGC teammates along with a new manager, it will be interesting to see how well Echo Fox will fare in 2017.